There are a number of situations in which it is desired to pack elongated food articles into a container in controlled positions and orientations. One particular application of the invention, with respect to which it will be described in detail hereinafter, involves the packing of cut pickle spears into cylindrical containers, such as the usual pickle jar. From the view point of attractiveness and saleability of product, it has been found desirable to pack pickle spears into transparent jars with the same cut face of each spear facing outwardly so as to be visible through the jar, and to line up the spears, side by side, in this orientation around the periphery of the jar. Usually the thickness of the spears compared to the diameter of the jar is such that the peripherally-positioned spears leave a generally circular empty region in the middle of the jar which is then often filled with other pickle spears in any desired orientation.
Machines intended to accomplish this general purpose are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,461,646 of Lane et al, issued Aug. 19, 1969; U.S. Pat. No. 3,468,098 of Eisenberg, issued Sept. 23, 1969; and U.S. Pat. No. 27,852 of Eisenberg, issued Dec. 25, 1973. In these devices the pickle spears are fed downwardly through the top opening of the jar, and are individually controlled to assure that they are placed in the desired orientations and positions in the jar. Systems similar to those of the last two cited patents have been used commercially, but the arrangements shown in all three of these patents are quite complex, particularly with respect to the manner in which the individual spears are delivered to the packing position and then controlled so as to obtain the desired orientations and positions in the jar.
It is therefore desirable to provide a method and apparatus for the packing into a container of elongated food products, of which pickle spears are an example, in a way which is quick, simple and reliable, and, in certain important applications, so that the food products will be packed into the container in predetermined positions and orientations about their longitudinal axis. More particularly, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus which accomplishes the packing of cut pickle spears into a cylindrical transparent container or jar with the spears positioned side-by-side adjacent each other around the interior periphery of the jer, with the corresponding cut faces of the spears facing outwardly, and to do so in a quick, simple and reliable manner.